Category: Newspost

As promised, here are the first two tracks released from the Beta Test Vaults.

These are two pieces written for our quartet set up, which we used as our base ensemble when we started out. The group ended up changing a lot over the years, but this is where it started.

First is Melissa Dunphy’s UNDER THE BED, a super awesome programmatic work that we premiered at our Monsters concert, full of horror themed music:

Second is Nat Evan’s NO ORIGINATION, which is the first piece someone wrote for us from outside the group. We premiered it at our first show way back when. It’s a little hard to describe, so take a listen:

In the next couple weeks we’re going to start posting some of the music we’ve been sitting on since our last show. We have both studio recordings and live show audio that’s just been collecting dust since Doug moved to Austin. Make sure to keep an eye out for them!

So Doug is moving to Austin, and we’re looking to have one more big show before he leaves. We’ve gone through all of our music to figure out what we want to play most, and we’ll be doing that on July 12th at our favorite little spot, the First Unitarian Church Chapel.

We’ve even recruited past members Ellis and Rob to join us, and we’ll have some libations from Mischief Brewing (among other stuff) (and your ticket will start you off with your first beverage). To be honest, we haven’t really worked out a single detail, but we were spitballing ideas, and we’re probably going to open up the doors early so you can hang out with us for a bit before we play. We’ll bring some games and chill until its time to play. So come hang out and listen to some of our favorite arrangements for the last time in a while.

Please let us know you’re coming on facebook, and buy tickets in advance. We’ll keep the most up to date info about the show at that facebook event page, so check in there as we work it all out.

Hey everyone! We wanted to let you know that we’ll have some brand new merchandise at the show Saturday. Take a look at this:

That’s Beta Tester Brandon rocking out one of our new shirts. We’ll also have these postcards at the show. If you buy one, you’ll get a download code for our performance at the William Way Center.

We’ll also have buttons and some stickers. Also, while your first chance to buy these from us in person will be tomorrow night, you can buy them right now on bandcamp. That’s right, you can start throwing your rupees at us now for Beta Test swag. Go ahead, you won’t regret it.

Your next chance to catch us in performance is approaching fast. We’ll be at the First Unitarian Church in Center City, Philadelphia on February 2nd, aka Groundhog’s Day.

We’ll be doing an almost entirely fresh set of arrangements and music. This will definitely include music from the games Castlevania, Earthbound, Final Fantasy VI, and Bastion. We’ll also be doing our own take on music from the Buffy musical episode Once More With Feeling and some original music from Doug.

We’ll also be putting the spotlight on some of the tunes between now and the concert on the blog, so keep an eye on that spot.

At the door, tickets will be $15, but you can get them in advance for $10 on ticket leap.

Prepare yourself for two amazing sets of your favorite holiday hits (perhaps slightly altered) along with electrifying arrangements of the hottest video game sounds of the past. Come to Philadelphia Christmas Village on December 1st and prepare to be forged into a holiday spirit super-being…

We’ll be playing two hour long sets (3pm and 5pm) with limited overlap between the two. You can come watch us or just use us as your soundtrack to holiday shopping. Our event page has some additional details.

We updated the events calendar, but forgot to put a note here in the news section about our upcoming events! Please accept our sincerest apologies.

Next week we’ll be performing at a benefit concert for group called Playing for Change. Their mission is to expand youth arts education programs, which is pretty cool. The event proper starts at 1, but some of us will be hanging out playing beforehand to attract passer-bys to take in the show.

In October, we’ll be hosting a few excellent musicians at the Dalet Art Gallery. Our own Mark Zelesky will be performing some solo works for toy piano and saxophone, and Alexis Del Palazzo will be playing pieces for solo flute. They should also be teaming up for some duets during the night.

We’re all pretty thrilled to share with you our set from the LocalArtsLive showcase. We put the four tracks on bandcamp just a little while ago, and you can download them at a name your price rate starting as low as free dollars. Of course, any money you pitch in will help us to create some new recordings that we’ll be working on this fall.

The live EP contains our arrangement of the Beetlejuice theme, music from Doctor Who, our Legend of Zelda medley, and Doug’s piece Dimunitive Tetriminos. Its also your first chance to hear any recordings with our new members Ben and Mark!

Beta Test is performing two sets between speakers during the July Philly NerdNite! We’ll be playing a variety of music from games, TV, movies, and works written for our own group. Come on out for some beer, interesting discussions, and good music!